single mother of three [my.life]

***Warning*** Extremely looonnnggg post…for some reason that’s how I roll lately…so just a warning…be prepared…that is if you actually read it!

I know you probably read my title and was like what?!?!?!?! No…believe me there are no surprises…none whatsoever. It’s just I was a single mother of three last week from Monday 10am to Friday 4pm! Here is a little recap of my week last week as camp counselor and teen camp with the girls from my church!

The perspective of teen camp as a camp counselor aka single mother of three girls!

1- There are mornings that start with cell phone alarm clocks going off for about 5 minutes and the only person that hears it is me…I got to hear Fur Elise all the way through twice one morning…Since no alarm clock will wake them up… I have to get up singing to them… in the loudest voice possible…Rise and Shine and give God the Glory!

PIN THIS2- They had enough snacks to stock an entire convenient store…and just about ate it all…besides the snacks I brought were never opened…that tells me I have no clue what teenagers eat these days.PIN THISPIN THISPIN THIS

3- I now know what it feels like to haul around a 50 lb. bag for your children when they want you to carry everything…boy are they spoiled. Next year I will be furnishing backpacks before we leave.

4- Having to call 30 second clean up rages on the dorm room because you can barely see the floor. All while hanging up their wet clothes and towels because I didn’t want to hear them complain the next time they needed it, that it was disgustingly wet and wasn’t dry.

5- I have never loved shower time more…it was the only oasis to not hearing my name called out along with a question…then all of a sudden having my name be turned into ssim ern…how that came about …only God knows.

6- The bathroom is so disgusting with six girls sharing it that when one of your girls has decided to adopt my flip flops because she discovers she wears the same size as me and runs away with them…that I had to use another girls flip flops to take a shower in—btw I am OCD, that’s just how I am.

9- Finally beating Leah in a sports game…the only game mind you that I have ever beat her at…a game of tetherball…she will never forget this!…then to have Kati want to play me and beat me to death…

10- Having the time of our lives in the water park…racing down slides…soaking one another and squealing all the way down…to jumping off of the high dive…diving off of the diving board and teaching the girls to do flips and how to dive!

11- Having a car ride over that was filled with fun games…crazy singing…many laughs…some detours along the way and lots of goofiness…to the car ride coming home where it’s quiet and you can’t do anything to keep them awake…aside from my co-pilot Leah who felt like she should keep me awake…after all we got the same amount of sleep this past week!

12- Not giving them money when they ran out of money because they had been drinking ICEE’s like they were going out of style…oh the hard ways we have to learn lessons of life!

13- Walking 5 bagillion miles around the campus going to and from dorm to chapel to dorm to dining hall to sports hub to dorm to swimming pool to chapel to dorm to dining hall to dorm to chapel and the list goes on…well you get my point!

14-Goofing off and laughing about the silliest things possible…it’s the lack of sleep that gets you every time.

15- On a more serious note…having small group time together around ice cream one night…and hearing how God is speaking to them and working in their lives and being able to share my heart and what God has brought me through to help them work through these times in their lives.

16- Learning new spiritual songs as a group and singing them and learning them together!

17- Being blessed beyond words to hear from the Lord through one of the most humblest man I’ve ever heard and a man of God that loves the Lord more than I could dream. Seeing how his life was stripped away from him through various sicknesses and him still serving God…then I ask myself…what is my excuse?

18- Hearing messages on having a pure life, a pure and clean thought life, having the right music that glorifies God and encourages you as a Christian, watching the right movies, not looking at filth on the computer, having relationships that are God honoring, choosing the right friends and staying away from the wrong friends that pull you down, obeying authorities in their life, having a desire for God, wanting to have a zeal for God and the things he loves. These are real struggles to everyone…especially our teens.

PIN THISPIN THISPIN THISPIN THISPIN THISPIN THISPIN THIS19- Praying for these girls and with these girls…hearing them tell me what God has specifically spoken to them about this week…seeing them surrender and obey the Lord and seeing them tell me these things with tears in their eyes. Their hearts are truly tuned into what God wants for them and living a pure and clean life. I told them that now the rubber meets the road when we get home and it’s back to the same old same old…it’s hard but- Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. I told them I wasn’t going to lie…living the life of a clean and God honoring Christian isn’t easy but it’s worth it. The temptation is going to come to give into those things they surrendered about…but I encouraged them to memorize a verse in the bible to help them overcome the temptation. Sacrifice isn’t easy but it’s necessary…My prayer is that what they learned and surrenedered to will not stop in their lives but spread into their home, church and community. Living a Christian life in this world is not easy.PIN THISPIN THIS
20- I couldn’t have been happier this past week as their camp counselor…being in the center of God’s will…I loved every second of it.PIN THIS